1 September 2014 Turnitin What is Turnitin? Turnitin is plagiarism detection software that is used by WBS, and the University, to assist in identifying matches in submitted work against other sources. Turnitin works by comparing a student’s work with a database of millions of books, journals, webpages and previously submitted documents. Almost all UK universities use Turnitin to assist in preventing plagiarism in student work. Turnitin is not used in isolation to make a judgment on plagiarism, but it does provide information on which an academic judgment is then made. Interpreting the Report The Turnitin report is intuitive and simple to interpret. It consists of a reproduction of the submitted work, in which sections are highlighted where a match or matches have been found with another source. The overall percentage of the work which can be found in these other sources is shown as the “Similarity Index”. This is then broken down into individual sources (with web links where appropriate), with the amount found in each source listed next to it. Points to note The score received does not automatically determine that plagiarism has been committed – there is no ‘score’ to aim for. The report is interpreted by the marker who compares the submitted paper and the suspected sources and uses academic judgment to come to a view on whether an offence has been committed. Turnitin will highlight quoted material, even if it has been correctly attributed. Provided they have been correctly referenced, this will not be penalised. Common phrases and short pieces of text may show as a match simply as they are in common usage and therefore do not need to be referenced. The sources identified by Turnitin may not be the only place that the material can be found – for example Turnitin may identify Wikipedia as the source, although the material may also be published elsewhere. WBS Practise WBS does not allow students to submit their work to Turnitin before submission via my.wbs. It is believed that as long as students follow the guidance given on correct referencing and avoiding plagiarism, no problems regarding plagiarism will arise. Student Declaration On submission via my.wbs and on coversheets for assignments, students will be asked to make the following declaration: “I declare that this work is entirely my own in accordance with the University’s guidelines on plagiarism and collusion. All external references and sources are clearly acknowledged and identified within the contents. No substantial part(s) of the work submitted here has also been submitted by me in other assessments for accredited courses of study, and I acknowledge that if this has been done it may result in me being reported for self-plagiarism and an appropriate reduction in marks may be made when marking this piece of work.” By making this declaration you are indicating that you have understood the regulations and consequences of plagiarism.